


The Raging Copycat

by Drawinganimemaster



Series: In Every Universe [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:49:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28890141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drawinganimemaster/pseuds/Drawinganimemaster
Summary: Catra clutches the tracking pad, so small it is completely engulfed by her fist until a faint green glow creeps out of the cracks between her fingers. She doesn’t know what Prime is planning to do with this portal, but she knows it has something to do with this tracking pad and that wherever this red dot is—that’s where she’ll get her answers. But she’s past the point of seeking answers. Prime has proven to be a formidable foe, targeting Catra specifically and using her weaknesses against her. She’s sick of it.Catra wants him dead.Superhero/Vigilante AU
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Series: In Every Universe [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909423
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31





	The Raging Copycat

PROLOGUE

0

**New York** is bursting with energy most every night. There is no escaping the people who are fierce and ever hungry for more, carrying themselves with some kind of unkempt energy that comes off them in waves—saturating those who visit. Everyone who comes into contact is a victim. Everyone is marked. Glimmer has never known someone to spend one night in her city without getting lost in the sights, and the innovation, before taking a train out of the city and then finding their way back to their new home—a fresh start—here, in the city. The drawl is so strong she once heard rumors of New York being alive. A strange concept; as strange as the sky scrappers making her feel so small and yet looking at a map to see, in reality, they’re even smaller in the scheme of it all, however, they’re far from insignificant. And while there is nowhere else she would rather be she can’t help or change the fact that there is one thing she can’t stand about New York.

It’s dreadfully  _ loud _ .

Her boyfriend of recent, Bow, who has known her long enough to recount embarrassing stories of her during inconvenient times, is trying to hold back a laugh. He hides his face in the champagne flute until he composes himself. “Of course it’s loud, Glim. It’s a party.  _ Your  _ party if I’m not mistaken.” He says, trying to scold her but he’s far too kind to pull it off.

Glimmer wants to desperately drown herself in something stronger than this champagne but she does not need another picture of herself on the cover of  _ Gossip  _ magazine. It’s tough enough trying to run a multibillion dollar company her mother decided to drop in her lap after her death followed by her father choosing the exact same moment in time to fall into a mid (late) life crisis by traveling the world like some frat boy with money left over on his school card.

“It’s not my party.” Glimmer says with as much disdain she can manage without dropping the stupid smile she’s wearing to appease the ever flashing cameras. “It’s supposed to be Catra’s party. She’s late.”

Bow tries to put her at ease saying, “she’ll be here.”

“She better not be out there doing something reckless.”

“No way, she knows how important this night is. And look. Entrapta and Scorpia are right over there.” Bow gestures to them with a subtle nod.

“I hope you’re right.” Glimmer feels a headache rearing its ugly head at the thought of what Catra might be doing right now. It was admirable before, Catra missing events here and there to deal with the violence on the streets but the stakes are much higher this time around. Their team is dealing with their biggest foe yet—some jerk off who calls himself, Lord Prime. Double Trouble, a shapeshifting vigilante who lives in New Jersey, gave them a heads up after Prime defeated them and made off with some powerful technology. Apparently Prime heard about their team, and Entrapta’s engineering genius, so now his clones are terrorizing their streets trying to draw them out for some kind of tech.

So it would be reckless and down right stupid for Catra to be out there running a lead without her team backing her up. There’s also this party Glimmer is throwing in Catra’s honor. After being handed the company, and losing some much needed guidance (thanks dad), Glimmer had to bring in people she could trust. Bow is her CFO (he went to business school at Cornell), Entrapta is the head of the IT department, Scorpia just hangs around and brings them lunch when she gets off her shift at the flower shop on 925 Broadway, and Catra is now officially her head of HR. While Catra has very little patience for people, she is surprisingly a good judge of character and Glimmer will trust anyone she refers to for a position at her company. It also helps that Catra has killer animal instinct.

“Come on.” Bow says, breaking her out of her spiraling. “Let’s go over. Maybe they know what’s holding her up.”

Glimmer nods. “Good idea.”

Scorpia is downing some sweets she has piled on her plate when they find her in the crowd. She’s wearing a beautifully fitted red gown, a bit more showing than Glimmer’s elegant purple zip up, but it’s littered in tiny crumbs from the snack cakes she’s shoving down her throat. “Hey guys! Wow, you both look great!” Scorpia greets them.

“Thanks but,” Bow hugs himself “...it still feels wrong to keep myself covered.” Glimmer does love seeing his conditioned six pack and misses running her fingers along the ridges, but there is something that stirs in her chest at seeing Bow in his dashing black and white tux. She makes a mental note to tell him how handsome he looks.

“You look good too.” Glimmer then asks, “where’s Entrapta? We thought we saw—“

“Here I am!” Entrapta pops up from behind the dessert table like some jack in the box. “Oh. Sorry. Did I scare you?”

Years of fighting on the street is the only thing that stops Glimmer from jumping out of her skin and spilling her drink. She feels Bow flinch a little but other than that it’s not noticeable to anyone else. “You’re fine. But we came over to get a time estimate.” Glimmer says.

Entrapta tilts her head. “For...what exactly?”

_ Deep breaths Glimmer, _ she thinks to herself.

“For Catra.” Glimmer keeps her voice level with a strong level of resolve.

There’s suddenly a glitch, the sharp sound of static zapping through the adjourned air. Glimmer zones in on the earpiece in Entrapta’s left ear. Glimmer almost growls, “Entrapta.”

“Uh…” Entrapta laughs nervously. “Surprise?”

Glimmer steals the earpiece and catches the end of a grumpy rant.  _ “...stupid clones ruining everything. I’m going to need some back up, I thought I could wrap this up before the party but there’s too many of them for me to go in alone. Can you send in some mini Emily’s?” _

Glimmer demands, “what do you think you’re doing?”

_ “Glitch? It’s rude to listen in on someone else’s conversation.” _

“Copycat, I swear…” Glimmer stops herself abruptly. There are too many people who might pick up on this conversation so she ducks out into an empty hallway. When the coast is clear she doesn’t hold back. “What the hell were you thinking?”

_ “I was thinking this would just be another lousy drug deal and I could bash their heads in and make it in time for the lobster.” _

Glimmer frowns, but she can’t wash away her sudden curiosity. “Wait. It’s not a drug deal?”

_ “Not at all. And it fits the description, creeping warehouse with these guys in hoodies lugging in some boxes, but when they cleared out I did some surveillance with a mini Emily. The stuff on the video was this advanced technology I thought only Gear Head could build.” _

“How does this make up for you being late to my—“

_ “Prime has his clones here.”  _ Catra pauses for a moment to let it sink in.  _ “Glitch, I don’t know what his plan is but it looks like he’s using the tech he stole from DT a while back. We thought we were safe because Prime was relying on Gear Head’s designs but what I’m looking at now—it’s practically finished. There’s no more time to waste, we have to tear this thing apart.” _

Glimmer shoots Bow a quick text telling him to get his ass out here with Entrapta. She then asks Catra, “what is he building?”

_ “I’m not sure. Gear Head might have a better idea but from what I’m looking at...it looks like a portal?” _

Glimmer hears the door to the party hall open, she looks over the corner and sees Bow frowning at his phone with Entrapta and Scorpia right behind him. Glimmer waves her hand, gets his attention, and gestures for him to come over. “Alright, Arrow and I are on the way. Send your coordinates. And don’t do anything until we get there.”

_ “I know the drill.”  _ Catra corrects, _ “I invented the drill.” _

Glimmer snorts. “See you soon, Copycat.”

Glimmer hands the earpiece back over to Entrapta. Scorpia looks like a nervous wreck but ready to take on the world if it means saving her roommate. “Is she okay?” Scorpia asks.

“Of course,” Glimmer says softly. It's going to take a lot more to knock Catra off her game. “She thought she could handle a quick drug deal but turns out it’s Prime related. And get this, somehow he got his hands on the tools he needed to make some kind of portal.”

Bow whispers, “oh no—“

“Amazing!” Entrapta exclaims. She reads the room when everyone looks at her with varying looks ranging from blank to frustrated. “I mean...oh no, this is terrible for us...but, still, kind of amazing for us?”

Glimmer sighs. “Alright...I’ll jump us back to HQ so Bow and I can gear up and meet Catra at the location she dropped, Entrapta when we get there you can send over some mini Emily’s to help us take out the clones…”

“Oh!” Scorpia raises her hand. “What about me boss?”

Glimmer smiles, sheepish. “Can you maybe stay at the party? It already looks bad with all of us gone and this way you can alert us when the crowd starts getting edgy. If anything we’ll have to use Protocol D.”

Scorpia deflates a bit but bounces back as usual. “I’m on it!” Glimmer watches her race back to the party. It’s far too dangerous to send Scorpia out on the job with them; sure, she is a hybrid shifter like Catra and has super strength, but unlike the rest of them Scorpia isn’t trained. And while Bow lacks the physical fighting aspect of the job he makes up for it with survival instinct.

“Alright,” Glimmer wraps them both up into a group hug “...let’s go!”

Glimmer jumps them over to their headquarters in Manhattan in the blink of an eye. They waste little time carrying out her orders and when they’re all geared up, Glimmer jumps her and Bow to the location Catra sent over minutes ago.

* * *

Catra leans off the wall when Glimmer and Bow land in front of her in a cloud pink glitter. “Thanks for coming,” Catra mutters. There’s a lot she wants to apologize to Glimmer for—she knows how important this night is for the company, how the board is inches away from cutting Glimmer loose due to her inexperience—but this isn’t the time or the place. Catra managed to find a secluded room a couple corners down from the big scrape room that’s housing the device, the room was guarded with clones the last she checked.

Glimmer says, “I get it. This is important.”

Bow takes off his black hood, revealing his face, but thankfully his royal-blue mask covers his eyes to maintain most of his identity a secret. “The mini Emily’s have surrounded the building so all we have to do is call them in if we need help.” Bow says.

Glimmer turns to her, the abrupt motion causes her purple cape to flutter around them which only spreads more glitter to the floor. Glimmer asks her, “what’s the plan?”

“Glitch and I will take out the clones while you use those new arrows you’ve been working on to short circuit the portal. Try not to destroy everything so we can take some parts back to the lab and have Gear Head run some tests.”

“What about Prime? Won’t he run back here once he realizes we’re dismantling everything he’s worked for?” Bow asks.

Glimmer nods. “We were barely able to take him on last time, and that’s only because we had help from DT’s crew. DT’s still in Jersey but the rest of their squad is out of town, and the others would never make it in time if we run into an issue tonight.”

“We’re wasting time just talking about not having enough time.” Catra says. “And this place doesn’t mean anything to Prime. If this portal worked he would have it in a more secure location.”

Bow frowns. “So it’s probably a trap.”

“Either way...” Catra takes out her staff and spins it around her fingers for a quick warm up “...we’re shutting it down.” Catra leaves them no room for a rebuttal, she makes hand signals that tell them to quietly go down the left wing hallway where it’s clear. It leads them to the work garage that’s full of Prime’s clones that are working on their individual tasks.

Catra ducks down behind a wooden crate and waits until one of the clones gets up from their work bench to check on the portal. When the coast is clear she signals for Bow to make a move. He aims his bow and releases—his arrow strikes the control panel that is linked to the portal by these thick cables—electrical sparks erupt and the room clouds with black smoke.

Glimmer vanishes in a cloud of glitter. Not soon after Catra hears a  _ smack  _ followed by a heavy  _ thump  _ as Glimmer works on taking the clones out one by one.

Catra hates shifting—it’s a process that takes a lot of energy out of her, and it hurts like hell, so she only uses it when she needs to, but the smoke still hasn’t cleared and there’s no way she’ll be able to see through it unless she’s in her hybrid form. So she pushes the button on her staff that causes it to tuck back into itself until it’s the size of a baton and she can tuck it into the black bag tied to her waist.

Catra leaps into the smoke a human and lands on the other side a hybrid human-cat. Her eyes easily adjust, and soon she has her claws extended and she’s jumping on the backs of clones and slashing at their necks—it’s Prime’s major point of control and once it’s out the clones are nothing but an empty shell. A puppet without the strings.

One of the mini Emily’s jumps out and attacks one of the clones that were closing in on her, sending it to the ground. Emily encases the clone in this gooey amber foam that Entrapta concocted for them to capture a clone without ripping it from Prime’s life source. Catra pulls out her staff and zaps the clone with an electrical blast until it goes limp.

“For the last time…” Catra says, glaring down at mini Emily’s blank screen. “We are not keeping one.”

Her earpiece goes off. Entrapta is whining on the other side of it and with Catra’s heightened senses it makes her flinch.  _ “Please? We can learn so much from them!” _

“I said no!” Catra snaps. It has more to do with the annoying static in her ear than it does with Entrapta but the message doesn’t get across. Catra keeps her voice calm this time. “We can’t risk it sending the location of HQ to Prime.”

_ “...okay.” _

Catra blames it on her guilt that has her saying, “...fine.”

Entrapta perks up quickly.  _ “Really?” _

Catra rubs her temple. “Yes fine. Just make sure there aren’t any tracking devices on its person and that it’s not connected to the host. And it’ll be your responsibility to clean up for it.” Catra tunes out Entrapta’s enthused response in favor of blowing off some steam by taking out some more clones. Most of them are already knocked out though, with the help of the mini Emily’s and Glimmer’s killer sneak attack.

“Copycat!” Bow shouts, “get down!”

Catra drops just in time to miss one of his arrows. She hears glass shatter and looks behind her to see one of the windows busted. Catra looks back at Bow, snickering. “You missed, Arrow!”

Bow shakes his head, grinning. “I never miss.” He takes out a couple more windows and it takes Catra longer than she likes to admit to realize what he’s really up to. The cloud of smoke is thinning out. With his vision clear, Bow shoots down a couple clones and makes a path towards the control panel.

“Show off.” Catra mutters, clipping him in the shoulder with her own in passing.

Bow laughs. “Come on. Stop sulking and help me with this thing.”

Catra slashes the thick wires connected to the portal device until the green light at the top of the circular door flickers off. Bow then takes out one of his arrows, it has a flash drive attached to the end instead of an arrow head. He plugs the arrow drive into the computer system nearest the portal to collect some data for Entrapta to look over when they get back. While he’s working on gathering intel Catra looks over her shoulder to see Glimmer finishing up with the last of the clones.

“Uhm…” Glimmer backs away as one of the mini Emily’s approach her with a knocked out clone encased in that amber foam strapped to its back. Mini Emily presents it like a cat leaving a dead mouse on its owner's pillow, preening for approval. Glimmer looks at Catra for help. “What...am I supposed to take it or something?”

Catra stalks over like a predator—she can’t exactly help the extra sway of her hips or the seductive drawl in her speech when she’s in this stupid form because it’s somewhat of a package deal, but she doesn’t shift back just in case she needs to hear something their human ears can’t. “Gear Head wants to run some tests on it when we get back. I told her to scrap any tracking devices and make sure it's not connected to Prime anymore. Should be fine.”

Glimmer looks unsure. “And that’s a good idea to you?”

“Look, you tell her we can’t bring it back and have to deal with her pouting and Scorpia’s disappointed looks.”

_ “See, that!”  _ Scorpia whines through her earpiece. Catra winches.  _ “You just said my real name! This is why I need a code name! Why does everyone get one except for me?” _

Catra groans. “First of all, why are you even on this line, and secondly, you don’t have a code name because you can’t make up your mind about one.”

_ “That’s not true! I thought I was sold on The Red Riot?” _

“That’s a name from  _ My Hero Academia _ ...and it’s already taken by this new vigilante across town who showed up out of nowhere. Plus, you said you wanted a name that mentions your claws.” Catra says.

_ “Aw, you were listening.”  _ Scorpia sounds close to tears.

Glimmer jumps in on the conversation before Catra can strangle her roommate through the line. “Is there a reason you’re contacting us on this line? I thought you were keeping an eye out on things at the party. Please tell me you’re still there.”

Scorpia pauses.  _ “...I’m still there?” _

“Scorpia!” Glimmer shouts.

_ “Stop saying my real name! And Gear Head told me to keep an eye on HQ while she came to the warehouse so she could see her clone in person. Something about not trusting either of you with her precious cargo.” _

Catra mutters to herself, “...I knew I should have kept working alone...why did I let them live…”

“Everyone, let’s calm down.” Bow joins them with his fancy arrow drive in his hand. “I just finished collecting all the information we need about the portal. We should head out of here while we still can.”

Catra walks away from the group but keeps her ears pointed back to listen in. She walks over the bodies and checks to make sure their necks are destroyed or that the chip attached to it is clipped and unusable. She scans some of the work benches, there are pages with notes scribbled across the margins and diagrams of the portal sketched out like sloppy blueprints.

Catra’s ear twitches to the left.  _ Beep, beep, beep. _

“...but Gear Head is on her way.” Glimmer says.

“Yeah, but she’s only coming for her clone. If we take it with us then she’ll have no choice but to head back to HQ.” Bow speculates. “What time is it?”

_ Beep, beep, beep.  _ Catra follows the low noise she’d never hear if it weren’t for her current form. It leads her to the most right workbench, furthest away from the portal. Catra tears apart the drawer, she shoves away meaningless metal scraps and rusted tools one would normally find in a garage until she finds the source of the noise.

“7:45!” Glimmer exclaims, “we only have 15 minutes until she has to give her acceptance speech! We can’t be late for this one, Margo already dragged my name through the paper last week when I showed up late for our interview.”

_ “Maybe...not show up late—“ _

“There was a bank robbery.” Glimmer defends herself by throwing the rest of them under the bus. “And none of you were anywhere to be found.”

Bow laughs nervously. “I had the day off?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just get out of here...this place creeps me out. You ready, Copycat?”

Catra holds up the device she found. “What about this?”

“A tracking pad?” Bow says with a frown as he eyes the discovery. Catra hands it over so he can paw over it because he and Entrapta are better at this tech stuff than she is. The tracking pad is a handheld device, fitting in the palm of his hand, with a green glowing screen encased with a grid lined in white. There’s a red dot in the center of the screen coming in and out of focus in time with the noise,  _ beep—in, beep—out.  _ There is superscript writing beneath the dot but the words aren't any language Catra’s ever seen. Which is saying something because Catra knows at least 20 different languages.

Glimmer looks over his shoulder asking, “where is that?”

“I don’t even know what language this is.” Bow confesses.

Catra takes the tracking pad from him, when he’s finished observing it, and pockets it. She is satisfied with the sweep she’s done of the place and is desperate to shift back into her human form so she calls quits on this mission. “You guys head back to HQ with the clone and the intel. I’ll meet you guys at the party.”

Glimmer crosses her arms. “We’re going to talk, you know.”

Catra has already accepted her fate. She nods. “I know.”

“Okay.” Glimmer accepts her answer for now. “I left your suit on your bed, and your entry pass should be on your desk unless Melog hid it inside their scratching post again.”

“Actually...” Catra backs away when Glimmer goes to teleport her with them. “I think it’ll be faster if I just go to my place first this way I won’t keep holding up the party. Plus, you guys might have to stay behind at HQ until you make sure Gear Head gets back safe. We don’t need her knocking down every door looking for her baby clone.”

Glimmer winches at the thought. “Good idea.” Glimmer gestures to her shoulder and Catra puts her hand on it and squeezes.

“Thanks.” Catra says once she drains enough power. “I’ll see you guys there. Scor—Red Riot, save me some crab cakes.”

_ “On it, Copycat!”  _ Scorpia mutters to herself,  _ “...huh, Red Riot...you know, I don’t think I like it…” _

Glimmer gives Catra a fake salute before she puts a hand on Bow and the mini Emily before teleporting out of the warehouse. Catra slaps away the glitter, she’s dreading the thought of using Glimmer’s power—whenever she does, Catra gets glitter stuck in her hair for days. It’s the one downside to Glimmer’s ability.

Catra takes stalk of the room one more time and maybe she lingers for the possibility of Entrapta showing up for her clone but the room remains silent save for the persistent beeping. Catra takes out the tracking pad and glares down at it like she can force answers out of the inanimate object like she did the rest of her victims in the past. There are no answers however, just the rhythmic  _ beep, beep, beep  _ as it taunts her into submission but she never gives. No, it just strengthens her resolve.

Catra clutches the tracking pad, so small it is completely engulfed by her fist until a faint green glow creeps out of the cracks between her fingers. She doesn’t know what Prime is planning to do with this portal, but she knows it has something to do with this tracking pad and that wherever this red dot is—that’s where she’ll get her answers. But she’s past the point of seeking answers. Prime has proven to be a formidable foe, targeting Catra specifically and using her weaknesses against her. She’s sick of it.

Catra wants him dead.

Catra wants him dead in the same way he killed her mother. But Prime doesn’t love anything, there is no one for Catra to sacrifice, no one for Catra to sink her claws into until life leaves their eyes—no one to punish to make Prime suffer. Catra doesn’t know how, but she knows she will make it slow and painful when the time comes.

“I will find you.” Catra growls, her anger and pain leaks out until everything around her gets infected. She directs most of her energy to the tracking pad—she glares at the red dot. Is this a foe of Prime’s? Maybe it’s his homeland. Maybe he’s calling for reinforcements to help him invade the earth. But above all else Catra wonders—does his loved ones live here?

Saturated in her desire to pull the veil off this new discovery Catra gives up on the warehouse and any hopes of Entrapta showing up and jumps from the warehouse fully intent on getting home so she can get to the party on time. She just hopes Melog isn’t too upset about Catra not cleaning out their litter box just yet.

* * *

Glimmer jumps her and Bow back to the party just outside the hallway with 5 minutes left before Catra has to give her speech. Bow fixes his tie in the mirror while Glimmer ducks her head inside and scans the restless crowd. She whips back around with a screech. “Catra’s not here!”

Bow frowns. “She’s not? Didn’t she head back to her place to change? She should be here by now.”

“Gear Head.” Glimmer says into her earpiece. “Is Catra back at HQ with you two?”

_ “...nope…”  _ a crash goes off in the background followed by a screaming Scorpia but Entrapta sounds calm so it’s probably fine.  _ “She’s not with you?” _

“No!” Glimmer groans. “This night is a disaster. I am going to murder her if she’s not dead already.”

Bow puts her at ease by rubbing her shoulders. “She wouldn’t miss this, Glim, she knows how much it means to you.”

“Then why isn’t she here?”

Bow shrugs. “Maybe she ran out of juice and had to take her bike over?”

“No.” Glimmer shakes her head whispering, “Catra can use someone’s power she absorbed for 20 minutes before it goes away and it doesn’t take long for her to get dressed. She should be here by now.”

Bow taps on his earpiece as worry sets in. “Gear Head, can you track Copycat and tell us where she is?”

_ “Already on it and...oh. This is strange.” _

“What is?”

_ “Copycat’s location isn’t showing up on the grid...” _

Glimmer tries not to panic but she can feel her eyes go wide. “What does  _ that  _ mean?”

_ “I don’t know….she’s...gone.” _

Glimmer turns to Bow and asks, “is there any chance Catra went off on a bender like that time we had a mission in Hawaii and she managed to dump her tracking device so she could flirt with that blonde at the beach?”

“Catra’s reckless but even she wouldn’t destroy her tracking device. She always keeps it on her person in case she needs our help or just dumps it in her bag.” Bow says.

Glimmer sighs. “That’s what I was worried about…” She says into her earpiece, “Gear Head, listen up. I need you to try the other tracking devices you put on Copycat without her knowing and don’t pretend like you didn’t do it because I found the tracker you put in my ski boots—“

_ “Skiing is dangerous!”  _ Entrapta defends herself.

“And if you come up short then we have a serious problem and we need to head back to that warehouse and do a thorough sweep of the place. But wait for us before you head back there just in case Prime had something to do with her disappearance.” Glimmer says, “and...Red Riot. Proceed with Protocol D.”

_ “I’m on it...wait, what’s Protocol D?” _

Glimmer rubs her temple. “Get DT on the phone and tell them I’m picking them up.”

_ “...and...why do we need DT?” _

“Because Copycat doesn’t have a secret twin that we know about and Gear Head hasn’t gotten far enough in her cloning research for her to make us a good look alike.”

Bow asks, “are you sure it’s a good idea to get them involved?”

“No, but the show must go on as they would say and we could use some extra hands if things get bad.” Glimmer says, “let’s move out guys.”

* * *

Catra lands in her apartment after the jump. The lights are off but she knows how to navigate in the dark, she’s learned enough lessons from stomping her toe in the middle of the night or having Melog claw at her leg after she accidentally stepped on their tail. She looks down to ensure that her fluffy friend is not taking another nap right in front of the door when she startles at how clear her vision is in the dark. Catra realizes she’s still in her hybrid form. She tries to shift back but is unable to. She hasn’t had trouble shifting between forms since she was a teenager learning how to manage her new power. It’s concerning but it could have a lot to do with her being emotionally drained after the events of this night so she decides not to fret.

Catra takes one step and with it she realizes three things. The first thing being the tracking pad that lights up the room in its green hypnotic glow—it stops beeping. Even without the noise the red dot taunts her—it’s far louder than any beeping could ever be.

The second thing she realizes is the carpet beneath her feet. It should have been the first alarm bell to go off in her head because she distinctly remembers Entrapta and Scorpia spilling an entire can of black paint on the white carpet in the living room. They were trying to paint one of the mini Emily’s to make it look more intimidating but somehow they forgot the need to use protective tarps in their excitement. And so, instead of paying for another carpet Catra got her friend Huntara to help her pull it up only to find a lovely wood floor beneath the surface.

The third thing Catra realizes is a steady heartbeat.

“You’re not afraid of me.” Catra says, ear twitching in the direction of the easy going rhythm. If it weren’t for the body heat she feels at her back, Catra would have assumed the person was sleeping.

“You’re the one who should be afraid.” The woman says, her only warning, before she attacks.

Catra side steps the blow at her side and blocks the one that comes right after aimed at her face. She’s glad to be her hybrid form because she doesn’t think she could take this woman on without an extra boost of speed and strength. Catra can usually zone out during a fight but this woman commands her attention, she’s alluring in the sense that one wrong move can leave Catra fatally wounded. Catra’s body sings at the danger—she dodges and weaves through the precise blows—and she grins at the cheap shots she lands but they’re never enough to stop her foe.

Catra slips up—too excited about the battle, and throws a punch prematurely—and the woman captures her fist in her hand and holds her there with a threatening grip. She demands, “who sent you?”

Like Catra’s going to answer to anyone. Catra kicks at the woman’s footing with enough force to send her tumbling backwards on the carpet but she holds onto Catra’s fist and takes her with her. The woman rolls them over, and then she takes Catra’s other hand and presses her into the floor with the weight of her body.

“I said,” she demands “who sent you?”

Catra hisses back at the biting grip on her wrist and the fact that she lost even when she had the advantage of night vision. She must never let the others know how badly she buffed up this fight.

Catra winches when the hold on her gets impossibly tighter. “Answer me.” Then softer, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Catra snaps, “too late for that.”

Catra glares up at her and falters. She hadn’t been able to get a good look at her while they were fighting—animal instincts telling her to not let her guard down around this foe—so she’s shocked to see a woman about her age. Her sandy-blonde hair covers them in a veil, long enough to brush the tips of Catra’s cheekbones, encasing the strong curve of her jaw. Her eyebrows are knitted together, confused and hostile, atop her blue-grey eyes. Catra wants to take in more—her wish is granted when the lights go on, blinding them both momentarily, right before the door gets slammed open.

“Adora, are you okay? I heard a loud noise and—oh.”

Catra adjusts to the light first and turns her head to see another sandy-blonde haired man who looks just like—Adora, apparently? She runs the name over in her head, thinks about all the organizations she and her crew has taken down in the past but comes up short.

Adora frowns, eyes flicking from the two guards and the man in the middle. “Adam? I’m fine.”

Adam crosses his arms over his chest making his muscles stand out in his loose fitting long sleeve. He looks at Catra and then to Adora with a smirk. “I can see that. Next time you can just put a sock on the door and I’ll get the message.”

“What?” Adora frowns, then looks down at their position. A few seconds pass before Adora stumbles to her feet like Catra’s body burns at the touch. And for a foolish moment Catra wonders if Adora has some kind of fire power she isn’t aware of because maybe she did burn Adora; it would explain why Adora’s face is red all over but not why she’s spluttering like a fool. “That’s not what this is!”

Adam raises his hands in a mock surrender. “I’m not here to judge you.”

“Adam.” Adora’s face cools down, leaving behind a faint trail of red along the tips of her ear. Catra can’t help but trace the marks left behind. “I don’t know who she is. She broke into my room.”

Adam sobers up in an instant. His voice is cold as stone as he commands, “guards, take her.”

“I found this on her,” Adora says, showing Adam the tracking pad Catra must have dropped during their little altercation. “She was sent by someone to get us. Look at the writing.”

“Hey!” Catra claws at the guards but they subdue her and lock her arms behind her back. “That thing isn’t even mine!”

Catra’s rebuttal seems to go unnoticed by each participating party, and as the guards take her away she finds herself lost in a fleeting glimpse of blue-grey. Adora is the last thing she sees, eyebrows knitted in a delicate pinch, as Catra gets pulled around the corner and out of sight.

**Author's Note:**

> This opening was much slower than how my normal first chapter pacing's are so I hope it wasn’t too boring but I just wanted to set the scene and explain the basis for my world building. Let me know what you guys think and if you need a flash card here you go:
> 
> List of all the known powers: Catra (the raging copycat)- can shift into a cat-human hybrid mix that gives her heightened senses with speed and strength. She can also copy anyone’s powers if she touches them and can then use it for up to 20 minutes. Glimmer (the glitch)- can jump/teleport through time and space. Bow (arrow)- can shoot arrows without ever missing his target. Entrapta (Gear Head)- big brain of the group, works behind the scenes in HQ by whipping up cool tech to help them win battles and works on finding bad guys. Scorpia (nickname in progress)- can transform into a crab-human hybrid mix with extreme super strength and claws that can cut through almost anything.


End file.
